A Magical Morning @ the East Coast of Zanzibar

Zanzibar, East coast. March 2009

It was my last morning Zanzibar. All was already done. Group's bills paid, gear packed away, goodbyes said. But I had another photograph to take- the women at the algae farms. The low tide enables interesting farming in the shallow water- growing algae- Gracilaria. Zanzibar women go to the shallow water in the low tide, singing their way to work, bending over the sticks to which they attach the algae.

The sky was perfect that morning and I walked into the water under an amazing cloud. It was a magical time to say goodbye to this peaceful island. I approached one of the workers and wanted to ask her to if I can photograph. In Africa, as in many places around the world, the answer is normally a price. And I had no small change with me. As she rose from her work to answer, I was surprised to find that this flexible woman was quite old. Shikamo, I greeted her in Swahili, the way you should greet an old person.
That caught her by surprise.
A muzungu tourist (Swahili nick name for white people) that speaks Swahili. She smiled a wide toothless smile. I have asked her whether I could photograph and she hesitated as she answered that it'll cost me money. She was more asking then saying but I went on asking for her price. 500 shilling she said, again more asking then saying. At that time this amount was less than half a dollar. I told her I don't have that much and her smile was still there. She asked how much do I have. There was something amazing in this woman's eyes. They were smiling.
Pole mama, mimi niko na 10.000 shilling too. Sorry, I said, I have only 10.000 shilling.
Sawa sawa hamna shida, she replied- it's ok, no problem.
To her absolute surprise, I handed her with the red note. She was laughing dancing and singing, calling all her friends to look at this crazy muzungu that has just paid her about 20 times what she had asked for.
 I knew it was going to take quite a while till I will be in Zanzibar again and that I don't need that bill, I also knew that at no other point of the last week would I have hand that note, less than 10 usd to this woman.

 That morning conversation and her reaction made me so happy that I wanted to dance with her. Instead, I thanked her dearly and started to work with my camera.